Curtatone pledges more police, expanded services

By George P. Hassett

Four years after he won the general election by only five percent of the vote and just two months removed from an election in which 80 percent of the voters chose to return him to office, Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone was sworn into his third term as mayor Monday night.

After being escorted into the Somerville High School Auditorium by aldermen Maryann Heuston, John M. Connolly, Sean T. O’Donovan and Robert C. Trane, Curtatone delivered a speech touting the steps his administration has taken since coming into power in 2004 and encouraging Somerville residents to “swing for the fences” in the next two years.

He highlighted progress in the city’s economy, schools, police department and its response methods to constituent concerns.

“Just four years ago, this was a city sharply divided and uncertain about its future. We endured a fierce election season and a closely-contested campaign. Many in this community took a wait-and-see attitude toward their new mayor. We had a lot to prove – to each other and to neighboring communities. And for four years we have worked to bridge those differences and to build consensus among people who care deeply about this city and its future,” he said. “Four years later, I can stand before you and declare with confidence and gratitude that – although we still face many of the same fiscal constraints that we did in 2004 – we have acted decisively, made enormous progress, and brought consensus to our city and its government.”

Curtatone said proof of that progress was seen last November when voters chose to retain the current Board of Aldermen and return him to office with “an overwhelming mandate.”

‚ÄúThis community has clearly voiced its support for the goals and  objectives we first put forward in 2004 ‚Äì the same goals that have brought us so much success and that continue to guide us today,‚Äù he said.

In his four years in office Curtatone has neutralized his most vocal and well organized opponents. He has reached agreements with the police and fire unions who once picketed City Hall and with the Mystic View Task Force, who opposed the city’s development plans for Assembly Square during his first three years in office.

In his inaugural address Monday Curtatone also looked to the future.

Understaffing in the ranks of the Somerville Police Department has been a widely aired grievance among city cops. New police chief Anthony Holloway said in an interview with The Somerville News that the number one complaint he has heard while meeting with patrolmen is the shortage of cops available for duty. In his inaugural address Curtatone promised 12 new officers would be on the force by February.

He asked the audience to recognize Acting Police Chief Robert R. Bradley, who will leave the department next week after 38 years on the force including the last three as chief. Bradley received a standing ovation.

He also pledged to develop citywide Wi-Fi which would extend internet access to all parts of the city and make the Internet a universal service to anyone with a computer in Somerville.

“We have examined a variety of technological options for Wi-Fi, and we are now ready to move ahead with a detailed Request for Proposals that reflects the city’s fast-evolving bandwidth capacities as well as our changing technology and business environment,” he said.

In the next two years, he said, city government would begin to examine possible reforms in the city charter.

‚ÄúA shared vision for the future also implies a willingness to reexamine our institutions and laws in the light of changing circumstances. That is why I believe that Somerville is ready to take a look at a full range of charter reforms ‚Äì including change to the structure of our administrative departments, our elective and regulatory bodies, and the procedures that govern the way we do business. To that end, I will convene a Charter Reform Commission in 2008,‚Äù he said.